A great variety of portable coin banks of various sizes and shapes are known, some of which are particularly designed for use in automobiles.
One such coin holder having three tubes for retaining coins of three denominations is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,675,664 to Kitowski. The Kitowski coin holder is provided with a removable mounting bracket. In this arrangement each tube has an upper opening through which coins may be either inserted or dispensed. The stack of coins in each of the tubes is forced upward by means of a compression coil disposed therein to continually urge the coins toward the upper opening.
Another example of a multiple coin denomination coin bank for use in automobiles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,924 to Ware. The Ware device has three grooves for retaining three stacks of coins. The grooves are formed so that an upper shoulder portion encompasses more than one-half of the circumference of the coins retained therein to prevent coins from being inadvertently dispensed. To permit removal of the lower-most coin of each stack, the shoulder portion of each groove terminates short of the bottom edge of the groove.
Another example of a three-compartment coin receptacle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,897 to Sharpe. Each compartment in the Sharpe coin holder has an upper opening for the insertion of coins and a lower opening for dispensing them. The rear of the receptacle has a tapered portion terminating in an end portion. The end portion converges with tabs of the lower end of the front wall of the receptacle to retain the coins therein. These tabs are resilient and flexible to permit individual removal of coins from each compartment; however, the receptacles are not circular, but rather have a rectangular cross-sectional configuration. Two major deficiencies exist in the coin holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,897. In the first place, because of the non-circular configuration of the receptacle, a coin deposited therein will not necessarily drop in stacking relation but may fall in a reverse position, thereby causing the receptacle to jam. Secondly, this particular configuration does not ensure that coins will be disposed individually, but rather provides a tendency for more than one coin to be dispensed simultaneously.